A witness said the gunman went from ‘‘room to room, shooting every room’’ in the Palms Motel, on McMinn Street in central Darwin. Several witnesses described hearing gunshots and one witness described seeing a woman shot in the legs, and described wounds consistent with shotgun pellets. One person died here.

There are four other crime scenes, including the Peter Macauley Centre, a major police operations base. Another man was killed at The Buff Club, one died at Gardens Hill Crescent and one at Jolly Street.

Police received a call about 5.45pm, local time (6.15pm AEST) about the shooting. The suspected gunman was arrested around 6.45pm local time. Roadblocks were placed around central Darwin.

Police said they do not believe the incident was terrorism-related.

More than 100 police are now involved in the crime scenes.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the shooting was a ‘‘terrible act of violence’’ and he had been in contact with police and NT Chief Minister Michael Gunner

NT commissioner Reece Kershaw said this evening that the gunman was on parole at the time.

The gunman went on the run from police in the inner suburbs of Darwin after the shootings but duty Supt Lee Morgan earlier confirmed that one man had been arrested and that there was no reason to believe any other shooters had been involved.

He was on the loose for about an hour.

A bystander in The Gardens, a suburb in the CBD, said she saw a woman shot three times, in both legs by a man wielding a pump-action shotgun.

There was also reportedly a tree on fire near the scene after the gunman entered a hotel at about 5.50pm with a pump-action shotgun and fired up to 20 rounds.

Facebook user John Rose said he witnessed a man “shoot up the Palms Hotel”.

“He was wearing high-vis, we found one person in the rooms that he shot up. Scary,” Mr Rose posted.

“We watched him like 20 feet away, calmly walk into the hotel room shoot the door open and then proceeded to shoot up every room,” he wrote.

Witnesses told the ABC he was looking for someone named “Alex”.

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